One of the greatest sporting stories of the last decade finally came to an end this weekend as Russ Cook, now known around the globe as the ‘Hardest Geezer’, officially completed his almost year-long run across the entire length of Africa. Yeah, all of it.
The 27-year-old athlete from Worthing in West Sussex has completed multiple endurance challenges in the past but none quite like this, completing a total of 385 marathons in 352 days and over 16,250 kilometres to run the length of the second-largest continent in the planet.
Having first embarked on his epic voyage back on April 22, 2023, and sharing the news of his challenge on social media, people haven’t been able to look away ever since and understandably so.
While his claim to be the first man to have carried out the feat in history has recently been contested by the World Runners Association (WRA), there can be no question as to how much of an inspiration his story has become for millions everywhere. And just look at what it meant – to everyone:
What an incredible bloke Russ Cook is. 👏👏@hardestgeezer has done it: he’s finally finished running the ENTIRE length of Africa. 🤯
But he still did – be it heavy downpours in the rainfoest, sandstorms out in the desert, the shock of snow in Algeria or just the gruelling heat of the equator regions, none of it mattered: he just kept going.
Bringing endless positivity to people’s timelines with his regular video updates whilst plugging away at the ridiculous daily mileage “on the ones and twos”, the simple conceit of a pretty pale ginger man running across one of the hottest stretches on Earth was plenty enough to keep tuning in every day.
There was a period where we’d wager the majority of Twitter (sorry, X), or at least 90% of British users anyway, were either checking in to see his latest progress or discovering the world of Hardest Geezer and his incredible challenge for the first time. Even 349 days in he was still pumping out the energy.
He might have been forced into a few days off through serious hospital-worthy injuries but he was never out for long.
Socials have been filled with countless people revealing how they’ve been inspired by his story Russ Cook’s mindset of never giving up.
One person wrote: “Keep telling myself when I’m out doing half marathons each weekend in preparation for a marathon and the legs are screaming, ‘Hardest Geezer wouldn’t give up. I’m not either’. An absolute genuine inspiration.” As someone training for his first Manchester Marathon, I can attest to that.
Another added: “In a world that can often feel overwhelming and full of challenges, finding inspiration in the hardest geezer has been a game-changer for me. Russ’ unwavering determination, resilience, and commitment to personal growth has reshaped my mindset and personal development.
A lot of those hopping on the bandwagon can’t even resist the familiar format of his vlogs either.
My first 5km in weeks here in the south of Sri Lanka; it really hits home what kind of monumental feat @hardestgeezer is doing DAILY by conquering 70+ kilometres per day running the length of Africa for the past year nonstop.
Civilians, influencers and people from all walks of life and starting to put the yards in.
It’s also worth reiterating that he’s taken on challenges like these for the right reason. In addition to reiterating that running has been a salvation for him following struggles with mental health, drinking and gambling, the entire ‘Project Africa’ undertaking was all done in aid of The Running Charity.
As well as raising awareness of the living conditions as he travelled through 15 different developing countries, from the moment he set off from Cape Agulhas in South Africa until now, he’s managed to raise around $870,000 (roughly £700k) for the extremely worthy cause.
The non-profit, which works with homeless young people and Sandblast, a cultural arts charity that helps those displaced from around the Western Sahara region, was set up back in 2012 and Russ’ has now helped the raise record amounts through nothing other than running.
Nothing short of remarkable.
Final day vibes, 352 days, 16,000+km, 385 marathons and counting. Russ Cook, you are an inspiration. You have raised so much, have inspired so many, and we cant wait to see you! pic.twitter.com/02wUygxEob
— The Running Charity (@Running_Charity) April 7, 2024
Hardest Geezer has become an inspiration to millions now taking up running and has been for nearly a whole year.
A lot of this could be in our heads but it also just feels like we’re seeing more and more runners all over the city and Greater Manchester as a whole as well; we can only guess that a similar uptake in running as a reinvigorated fitness trend is happening in other parts of the world too.
We even feel like we’ve seen more people wearing Hoka, the running-based sports apparel that officially sponsored and supplied Hardest Geezer with his essential kit, in the year since he began pounding the pavements and plains of Africa.
No, we’re by no means saying this was entirely down to this one insane ginger bloke and utter running machine but it’s certainly helped put them even more firmly in the public consciousness — again, the lion’s share of the money went straight to charity.
@hoka have very kindly given us a brand new pair of Bondi 8's to give away along with this signed pair that I started the mission with.
His mind-blowing multi-marathon challenge and insane feat of physical endurance might be over, but the journeys he has spawned as a result are only just starting.
Not to overegg the pudding, but having someone quite literally pushing the boundaries of what most would consider humanly possible has been so motivating not only for people like us but god knows how many others.
It’s been one of the inspirational things we’ve ever witnessed and we genuienly can’t wait for him to take a beyond well-deserved break and give that England shirt a wash and come home a hero in time to enjoy the Euros with the rest of the country.
Now get those feet up, lad, you’ve more than earned a year off filled with nothing but long baths, cold beers and lots of kip. You’ve got millions of us to takeover the running lark for a while.
Featured Images — Hardest Geezer (via X)/jordancore4 (via Instagram)
Sport
Gymshark is opening its first standalone northern store in Manchester this weekend
Emily Sergeant
A huge new Gymshark store is opening in Manchester tomorrow, and it’s the brand’s first standalone store in the North.
The global sportswear and fitness brand will be setting up shop at the Trafford Centre and taking over a large 7,500 ft space on Upper Peel Avenue with all of its iconic Gymshark ranges, including the massively ‘Vital’ and ‘Power’ collections, as well as some exciting new exclusives for Gymshark Trafford Centre.
The store itself is said to have Gymshark’s ‘increasingly trademark’ look and feel throughout it, including mannequins that are created from the image of real people in the community, different destinations for its hero products, and spacious changing rooms with bespoke lighting.
Unfamiliar with Gymshark? Since it was founded by Ben Francis from his garage in 2012, the brand has gone on to become one of the UK’s greatest business success stories of the 21st century – with more than 20 million people across 200 countries now counting themselves as members of the Gymshark community.
Gymshark is opening its first standalone northern store in Manchester this weekend / Credit: Supplied
The new Trafford Centre will be Gymshark’s first standalone store in the UK outside of London, and follows recent openings in Dubai and Amsterdam, as well as coming ahead of the opening of Gymshark’s first flagship store in the US later this year.
Most importantly, it builds on the brand’s long association with Manchester, as one of the first-ever Gymshark meet-ups was in the city, as well as its first ‘Lift’ event post-COVID.
Gymshark also credits the public’s reception to its space inside Selfridges at the Trafford Centre as one of the driving forces behind its choice to open a permanent store within the shopping centre, calling it ‘nothing short of spectacular’ and adding that the new opening genuinely solidifies Manchester’s role as a ‘big brother’ to a Brummie brand.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Gymshark’s first Northern store to Trafford Centre this weekend, joining our growing athleisure and sportswear offering at the centre,” commented Simon Layton, who is the Centre Director at Trafford Centre.
“We have no doubt that Gymshark will prove immensely popular and can’t wait to welcome them on opening day.”
Gymshark is opening at the Trafford Centre tomorrow (Saturday 12 July) with a grand ribbon cutting at 10am, followed by goody bags, refreshments, and merch being handed out for those waiting in line.
There’ll also be different fitness challenges to take part in too, in true Gymshark spirit.
Featured Image – Trafford Centre
Sport
Explaining the ‘Poznań’ and why Oasis fans are doing it at their Live ’25 reunion tour gigs
Danny Jones
The sun is shining, Britpop is back on top and, more importantly, Oasis are BACK – plus, they’ve got thousands of people that aren’t even Manchester City fans doing the Poznań. Here’s why.
Before you jump down our throats, yes, we’re fully aware of what the popular Man City supporter celebration is (including the fact that it’s nicked); however, we have seen plenty of people confused over what it’s all about.
Including a few in our office who couldn’t give a monkey’s about football, which is fair enough.
So, if like lots of other non-footy-obsessed Oasis fans, you’ve also been wondering A) what the Poznań is and B) why people on the Live ’25 reunion tour have been doing it, here’s a brief explanation.
What is the Poznań celebration?
For starters, if you’ve been keeping off social media completely to avoid any spoilers whatsoever, first of all, well done, your willpower is much stronger than ours.
Secondly, if you’ve never seen it before at all, here’s what it looks like:
It came out of Poland, hailing from the place of the same name and popularised by Ekstraklasa (a.k.a. the Polish first division) football team, Lech Poznań, who have been doing it since the 1960s.
As you can see, the group – and in this case, stadium-wide celebration – sees supporters turning their backs on the pitch/the centre of the arena and linking by wrapping arms around each other’s shoulders and jumping up and down in one, massive, continuous wave.
It is quite a striking visual, no question about that.
Why are Oasis fans doing it?
Come on, you must have put two and two together by now.
Manchester City fans adopted this now iconic celebration more than a decade and a half ago, and have been doing it regularly during big games, big scorelines, and big trophy wins, of which there have been a lot since then.
In fact, aside from the Burnage boys being massive Blues, Liam Gallagher himself actually instructed the Cardiff crowds on nights one and two.
Gallagher brothers kick off Oasis world tour with Cardiff show, as Liam tells fans 'do the poznan'.
It’s actually said to originate from Turkey or Greece, where it is also fairly commonplace, being simply referred to as ‘la Grecque’.
They’ve even used some pretty biblical official photography from the opening weekend of the reunion tour as the cover art for a live recording re-released of ‘Slide Away’.
It might be the coolest album artwork we’ve seen in a while, to be honest.
The history of the Poznań and its connection to Man City
Be it at Wembley for a cup final or at the Etihad Stadium, where the majority of fans saw the supporter stunt for the first time, it’s become arguably even more synonymous with City than its creators.
It was 2010, and the blue half of Manchester was hosting Lech Poznań in the group stage of the Europa League, but despite a 3-1 victory on the grass itself, more eyes were fixed on the stands themselves.
An army of 6,000 loyal Lech Poznań fans travelled for the game and had the ground quite physically bouncing with a shade of slightly darker blue, so when Emmanuel Adebayor wrapped up a hat-trick, the home support decided to turn the jubilation on their opponents and do it themselves.
It was all in good spirit, of course, but it went down a pretty instant hit with City fans and has only grown more prevalent and regular ever since.
Perhaps one of the funniest sights in recent years is Noel Gallagher being too hungover to join in, which also led to one of the coldest-looking images of the songwriter ever, and one that was quickly dubbed a perfect album cover for the next High Flying Birds album or, who knows, maybe another Oasis record?…
Ok, this is still up there in the cover art competition too.
So, yeah: that’s pretty much the long and short of it, we just thought it would help if we quickly explained the Poznań to anyone wondering why Oasis fans have been doing it.
Basically, if it was that big over in Wales, don’t be surprised if you see a literal sea of people flood Heaton Park before turning their backs to the stage, which seems to be triggered once Liam introduces ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol.’ It’ll be interesting to see if Man United fans get involved.
And finally, just imagine how much more epic this is going to be back home in Manchester as we brace for quite possibly the biggest headline gig the region has ever seen…
Danny Jones -
8th April 2024 
